Harness



TQDEGKER.

(No Model.)

HARNESS.

No. 509,464. Patented Nov. 28, 1893.

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@TATES Uivrrn THEODORE DEOKER, OF CHARLOTTESVILLE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO TAYLOR ROBERTS, OF ARLINGTON, INDIANA.

HARNESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 509,464, dated November 28,1893

I 7 Application filed February 20, 1891. Serial No. 382,273. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THEODORE DECKER, of Charlottesville, in the county of Hancock and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harness; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention consists in a special construction of parts, by means of which a whiffie-tree, and also the usual long traces and other parts are dispensed with, and whereby the horse can be very quickly hitched to the vehicle, and quickly unhitched.

In the drawings: Figurel indicates my improved harness as applied to a horse, the remaining figures showing the parts detached; Fig. 2 my novel metallic shaft carrier; Fig. 3 one of my metallic shaft plates; Fig. 4 a pair of shafts having on each shaft a pair of such plates; Fig. 5 a short tug having asnaphook and serving with other parts, instead of a trace. Fig. 6 represents one of the shaft carriers connected with its short tug or brace and snap-hook, and also with the hold back snapped to the same carrier; this figure omitting the crupper strap, but showing means for its connection with the hold-back. Fig.7 indicates the belly band having a snap-hook at each end.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures.

A is an ordinary gi -saddle serving to illustrate its connection with my improvements, which improvements may be used with any gig saddle; at its bearing straps.

B, is a breast collar and its neck strap.

D are my novel metal shaft-carriers which I employ in place of ordinary shaft tugs, and by means of strap and buckle as shown in Fig. 2, I connect one of these carriers to each strap a. Each of those shaft carriers is provided with a hook 07/, extending upward as shown, and when buckled to the straps or the gig-saddle serves tohold up the shafts; and

it is also provided with holes (Z d for the purposes hereinafter stated.

E is one of my short tugs or traces having a snap-hook e; F a shaft plate made of round iron bent to form two eyes g g as shown, and the center part and both ends being flattened and having holes by means of which they may be bolted or screwed to the shafts, as shown. These plates are permanently fixed on both the upper and under sides of the shafts as shown, one directly underneath the other, and say about twenty-two inches from the front ends of the shafts G, the bolts extending vertically through the shafts.

H indicates a crupper and its straps of well known kind.

I is a belly-band of two pieces, one longer than the other, with snap-hooks z" t" at each end, and with an adjusting buckle 7? connecting these pieces. This belly band serves to hold the shafts firmlyin place. The holes d in the shaft carrier plate D,are for the following purposes: The forward one receives the snap hook e on the short tug or trace E, and this tug E is connected by means of buckle b to the end of the breast collar B; and the rear holes d of plates D receive the snap hooks on at the fore end of an ordinary breeching or hold-back K. This short tug or trace E thus takes the place of the ordinary long trace, for by using tug E on the shaft carrier D, and these carriers being severally hooked fast in one of the eyes 9' on top of the shafts enables a horse to pull just the same as if there were long traces extending from an ordinary or other horse collar back to the whifde-tree on the shafts. I however do not need or use any whifl'le-tree. The hold-backs of the breeching K may be of ordinary kind, and the snap hooks m put on after the hold backs have been attached to the breeching, and then thehooks are snapped into the holes at d (see Fig. 6) so that when a horse is holding back, the hold backs pull directly on the shaft carrier D and these being hooked into The breeching K, and turn-back H, and crupper are merely shown for the purpose of illustrating their connection With my novel features; any breeching and any turn back may be used with my invention.

It will be observed that I do not employ buckles at the ends of the short braces E, to connect them with the plates D; nor any buckles at the fore ends of the breeching to connect it to the plate D; nor any buckles to connect the belly-band I, with the breast-collar; snap-hooks being used for all these connections and which can when desired be instantly released. The buckles shown, serve merely for shortening or lengthening the straps and need not be unbuckled for the purpose of harnessing or unharnessing.

In order to hitch up a horse all that is necessary to do is to put the harness on the horse substantially as in using other harness, then snap the hold-back K, and the short tugs E to the eyes (1 d of the shaft carriers D, then raise the shafts and let them down over the horse and hook the shaft carriers on each side of the horse into one of the fixed eyes g'g on top of the shafts. The object of having two eyes gg in the plates F, is to enable the horse to be hitched closer to or farther from the vehicle as may be desired. I next take the belly-band I (see Fig. 7) and which as stated has a similar snap or snap hook 01' t" at each of its ends, and after hooking the shafts to the shaft carrier D, as above stated, one end of this band I is snapped fast to one of the fixed eyes 9 underneath the shafts, and its other end is passed underneath the horse and snapped fast to one of the eyes g on the under side of the other shaft. hitching is thus completed.

As above mentioned, the belly-band I, is made of two pieces one longer than the other, and one of them has a series of holes for the tongue of its connecting buckle 1?, so that it can be adapted for use with any horse. To nnhitch, I merely unsnap one end of this belly band from the eye g underneath the shaft and raise the shaft, and the horse and his harness are then free of the vehicle, for the act of raising the shafts disconnects the shaft carriers D from the upper eyes g of the shafts; and as there is no whiflile-tree; and as there are no ordinary long traces to be disengaged from a Whiflle tree, and no hames and no straps wound around the shafts needing to be unbuckled and released, all the usual delay and annoyance incident to such features are avoided.

I claim 1. Aharness attachment comprising a hook plate having means at its upper end for attachment to a saddle skirt, a hook at its lower end, and a perforation at each side, a breaststrap and hold-back each having a snap-hook to engage said holes or perforations, and eyes on the thills of the vehicle to which the hook is adapted to be attached, all substantially as described.

2. A harness attachment comprising hook plates each having means at its upper end for attachment to a saddle skirt, a hook at its lower end and a perforation in each of its sides, a breast-plate and hold-back each having snap-hooks to engage said holes or perforations, eyes on the thills to engage with the hooks of said plates, a bellyband having snap-hooks at each end, and eyes on the under side of the thills to engage therewith.

3. The described harness for dispensing with long traces and whiffie trees, consisting of the fixed plates F, g, secured both to the upper and to the under side of the shafts, the shaft carriers D, having the snap-hook holes (1 d and the hook d, the short tugs E and their snap-hooks e, the hold-back and its snap-hooks m, and the belly band I having a snap-hook at each end, all substantially as shown and described.

THEODORE DECKER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE A. M. HICKMAN, WILLIAM E. ROBERTS. 

